★★★
For this Painlevé evening, Lou and I looked over some stills
by Painlevé and watched a musical suite by the experimental rock group
Yo La Tengo to accompany eight Painlevé films.
I didn’t cull much from the stills that I hadn’t already
noticed in the films. Painlevé
has a photographer’s eye, and his stills have the same sensibility as his films,
only with a more control. He’s
able to manage framing and focus better when he doesn’t have to keep his
subjects at the right place in the frame and in the right light. But it’s the same aesthetic in both.
As for Yo La Tengo's new music, Lou and I agreed that there were some
worthwhile ideas in the performance even if the music isn’t riveting. I think the soundtrack to Cristaux liquids is
one of the most interesting, with its waves of sonic noise reflecting what we
are seeing on screen. The electric
guitar chords for Les amours de la pieuvre are a good choice, too. Harmonically, I like the dreamy sound in the
beautiful Hyas et sténorinques that’s cut with an occasional dissonant burst, a
sound analog to the sudden, awkward leg movements of the film’s subjects. Similarly, the frenetic rhythm in Histoires
de Crevettes echoes the manic leg movements of the shrimp.
But my biggest pleasure in watching this Criterion DVD
feature was rewatching the films themselves.
Percussionist Georgia Hubley points out in the interview in the DVD set
that Yo La Tengo generally found a theme or musical idea for each film and
worked with that throughout each film. I heard and
enjoyed that theme. But it was the beauty of Painlevé’s
images and the fascinating content that kept me at my screen. And Lou and I both also like the period taste that guided
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